Get paid to stay in bed: Nasa recruits couch potatoes for microgravity study

Nasa is currently recruiting a number of willing volunteers to spend 70 days doing very little at its Houston headquarters.

The couch potatoes will get paid around £3,000 a month as part of the US space agency’s research into the effects of microgravity on the human body.

‘Of all the potential challenges crew members encounter in the space environment, microgravity has proven to be one of the most difficult to mimic in an experimental setting,’ explains Nasa.gov.

‘Researchers and engineers are studying bed rest as an experimental analog for space flight because extended exposure to a head-down tilt position can duplicate many of the effects of a low-gravity environment.’

Two test subjects participate in the bed rest research project (Picture: Nasa)

Successful candidates will stay in a tilted bed 24 hours a day as part of the 70-day project, where they can play computer games, surf the internet or watch TV.

Researchers will then monitor how long-term confinement to a reduced gravity environment effects muscle and bone strength, cardiovascular function and mental health.

The ‘pillownauts’ will undergo a two-week rehabilitation period once the study is complete.